Patent Application
20200387485
Embodiments described herein relate to providing customized documentation to users based on an organization the user belongs to.
When a company develops a product such as a software product, the company typically distributes the product to multiple organizations and creates documentation associated with the product. An organization may be, for example, a company, an educational institution, a government agency, or the like. Individuals belonging to organizations that use the product may access the product documentation for information regarding the product. It is common that each organization has specific policies relating to product usage that do not conform to or are not included in the product documentation. In one example, product documentation may include information regarding features of the product that are disabled by an administrator of an organization. In another example, the organization may want their members to use a feature of the product in a specific way (for example, always use this watermark for this type of document). In yet another example, the organization may want their members to contact a specific support group for help with using the product. For example, uncustomized product documentation may state “Contact ACME, Inc. Support at 1-800 . . . ” but the organization incurs a cost each time a member calls the number.
Therefore, an organization may create customized product documentation that reflects the organization's configuration of the product, preferred use of the product, and preferred support contacts for the product. For example, an organization may customize the product documentation to include its own, internal support team's contact information or, for each aspect of the product, contact information for an individual or team within the organization supporting that aspect of the product (for example, “For issues or questions about purchasing, please contact Fred at 12345. For issues or questions with installation or use of this tool, please contact Donna at 23456.”). Currently, the ability of organizations to customize product documentation is limited and often requires duplicating the product documentation. Duplicating product documentation at a server wastes computer memory and also leads to problems in maintaining up-to-date product documentation. Therefore, there is a need for a system that allows for customizing product documentation without needing to duplicate the product documentation.
Embodiments described herein provide a system and method for customizing product documentation. Rather than duplicating product documentation for each organization whose members modify the product documentation, certain embodiments described herein store modifications made by members of an organization to product documentation. When a user logs into a web application to view product documentation, the organization that the user belongs to (is a member of) is determined based on the user's log-on credentials. The product documentation as created by the company distributing the product is retrieved from the database in which it is stored. Based on the organization that the user is a member of, modifications made to the product documentation by members of the same organization are also retrieved from the database. The retrieved modifications are applied to the retrieved product documentation to create modified product documentation. The modified product documentation is displayed. In some embodiments described herein, user metrics associated with the modified product documentation are also displayed.
One embodiment provides a system for customizing product documentation. The system includes an electronic computing device including an electronic processor. The electronic processor is configured to receive, from a user device, log-on credentials, determine, based on the log-on credentials, an organization, and receive, from a database server, product documentation for a product. The electronic processor is also configured to receive, from the database server, modifications for the product documentation that are associated with the organization, apply the modifications to the product documentation to create modified product documentation, and send, to the user device, the modified product documentation.
Another embodiment provides a method of customizing product documentation. The method includes receiving, from a user device, log-on credentials, determining, based on the log-on credentials, an organization, and receiving, from a database server, product documentation for a product. The method also includes receiving, from the database server, modifications for the product documentation that are associated with the organization, applying the modifications to the product documentation to create modified product documentation, and sending, to the user device, the modified product documentation.
Yet another embodiment provides a non-transitory computer readable medium storing instructions that, when executed with an electronic processor, perform a set of functions. The set of functions includes receiving, from a user device, log-on credentials, determining, based on the log-on credentials, an organization, and receiving, from a database server, product documentation for a product. The set of functions also includes receiving, from the database server, modifications for the product documentation that are associated with the organization, applying the modifications to the product documentation to create modified product documentation, and sending, to the user device, the modified product documentation.
These and other features, aspects, and advantages will be apparent from a reading of the following detailed description and a review of the associated drawings. It is to be understood that both the foregoing general description and the following detailed description are explanatory and do not restrict aspects as claimed.
One or more embodiments are described and illustrated in the following description and accompanying drawings. These embodiments are not limited to the specific details provided herein and may be modified in various ways. Furthermore, other embodiments may exist that are not described herein. Also, the functionality described herein as being performed by one component may be performed by multiple components in a distributed manner. Likewise, functionality performed by multiple components may be consolidated and performed by a single component. Similarly, a component described as performing particular functionality may also perform additional functionality not described herein. For example, a device or structure that is “configured” in a certain way is configured in at least that way, but may also be configured in ways that are not listed. Furthermore, some embodiments described herein may include one or more electronic processors configured to perform the described functionality by executing instructions stored in non-transitory, computer-readable medium. Similarly, embodiments described herein may be implemented as non-transitory, computer-readable medium storing instructions executable by one or more electronic processors to perform the described functionality. As used in the present application, “non-transitory computer-readable medium” comprises all computer-readable media but does not consist of a transitory, propagating signal. Accordingly, non-transitory computer-readable medium may include, for example, a hard disk, a CD-ROM, an optical storage device, a magnetic storage device, a ROM (Read Only Memory), a RAM (Random Access Memory), register memory, a processor cache, or any combination thereof.
In addition, the phraseology and terminology used herein is for the purpose of description and should not be regarded as limiting. For example, the use of “including,” “containing,” “comprising,” “having,” and variations thereof herein is meant to encompass the items listed thereafter and equivalents thereof as well as additional items. The terms “connected” and “coupled” are used broadly and encompass both direct and indirect connecting and coupling. Further, “connected” and “coupled” are not restricted to physical or mechanical connections or couplings and can include electrical connections or couplings, whether direct or indirect. In addition, electronic communications and notifications may be performed using wired connections, wireless connections, or a combination thereof and may be transmitted directly or through one or more intermediary devices over various types of networks, communication channels, and connections. Moreover, relational terms such as first and second, top and bottom, and the like may be used herein solely to distinguish one entity or action from another entity or action without necessarily requiring or implying any actual such relationship or order between such entities or actions.
As described above, the ability of organizations to customize product documentation for a product such as a software product (for example, Microsoft Outlook®, Microsoft Word®, Microsoft Sharepoint®, or the like) without duplicating the product documentation is limited. Duplicating product documentation wastes computer memory, leads to problems maintaining up-to-date product documentation, or both. Therefore, a system that allows for customizing product documentation without needing to duplicate the product documentation 1) reduces the need for memory and 2) helps improve the accuracy and reduce obsolescence of information in the product documentation.
Embodiments described herein, among other things, store modifications made by an organization to product documentation. When a user logs into a web application to view product documentation, the organization that the user is a member of is determined based on the user's log-on credentials. The product documentation as created by the company is retrieved from the database in which it is stored. In some embodiments, a specific version of the product documentation as created by the company is retrieved from the database based on the organization that the user belongs to (or is a member of). Based on the organization that the user belongs to, modifications made to the product documentation by members of the same organization are also retrieved from the database. In some embodiments, a type of user is determined based on the user's log-on credentials and modifications made to the product documentation by members of the same organization for the type of user are retrieved from the database. The retrieved modifications are applied to the retrieved product documentation to create modified product documentation and the modified product documentation is displayed. Therefore, certain embodiments described herein do not require that customized product documentation be duplicated, allowing for up-to-date product documentation to be maintained and computer memory to be used efficiently. In some embodiments, user metrics associated with the modified product documentation are also displayed, allowing members of the organization to determine, among other things, features of a product that cause the greatest difficulty for other members of the organization. For example, an administrator of an organization may determine that members of the organization need training on a product feature based on how many times a section of product documentation associated with the product feature is accessed.
Each user of the user devices 110, 115, 120, 125 may be associated with an organization and each of the user devices 110, 115, 120, 125 may be used by one or more members of the organization. Each user device 110, 115, 120, 125 is an electronic device, such as desktop computer, laptop computer, tablet computer, a smart phone, a smart watch, a mixed reality headset, or the like, that includes an electronic processor (for example, a microprocessor, application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC), or another suitable electronic device), a memory (for example, a non-transitory, computer-readable storage medium), and a communication interface such as a transceiver, for communicating over the communication networks 135 and, optionally, one or more additional communication networks or connections. The user devices 110, 115, 120, 125 may also include a display (for example, a touchscreen, a liquid crystal display (LCD), a light-emitting diode (LED), a LED display, an organic LED (OLED) display, an electroluminescent display (ELD), and the like) and an input device (for example, for example, a keypad, a mouse, a touchscreen (for example, as part of the display device), a microphone, a camera, or the like). The user devices 110, 115, 120, 125 communicate with the electronic computing device 105 to access the product documentation included in the database server 130.
As illustrated in
In the example embodiment illustrated in
In some embodiments, the database 212 also includes modifications to the documentation made by members of an organization to which the product has been distributed. In the example illustrated in
In some embodiments, the database 212 also includes product documentation metrics associated with organizations to which the product has been distributed. Metrics included in the database 212 describe how members of an organization utilize product documentation. In the example illustrated in
In the example illustrated in
In some embodiments, the memory 305 of the electronic computing device 105 includes a web application 315 which provides access to product documentation when log-on credentials, such as a user name, a password, domain, organization name, securelD, a combination of the foregoing, or the like are received. The web application 315 includes a mapping 320 that maps log-on credentials to organizations, documentation versions, and user types. In some embodiments, the mapping 320 also maps log-on credentials to editing permissions. In one example, the mapping 320 may include a list of domains. Each listed domain may be mapped to an organization. Each organization may be mapped to each product documentation available to the organization and an associated version for each product documentation. The mapping 320 may also include a list of usernames, passwords, aliases, a combination thereof, or the like. Each entry in the list of usernames may be mapped to a type of user (for example, researcher, developer, sales representative, or the like) and editing permissions.
In some embodiments, the electronic processor 300 sends a list of product documentation accessible by members of the determined organization to the user device from which the log-on credentials were received. The electronic processor 300 may receive a selection of product documentation from the user device.
In some embodiments, when the electronic processor 300 receives a selection of product documentation from the user device, the electronic processor 300 sends, to the database server 130, a request for the selected product documentation. In other embodiments, the electronic processor 300 sends, to the database server 130, a request for all product documentation that members of the determined organization have access to. In some embodiments, the electronic processor 300 requests a version of the product documentation that is determined based on the organization associated with the log-on credentials. At step 415, the electronic processor 300 receives, from the database server 130, product documentation for a product. If the electronic processor 300 requested a specific version of product documentation, the electronic processor 300 receives, from the database server 130, the requested version of product documentation.
The electronic processor 300 also sends, to the database server 130, a request for modifications for each product documentation received by the electronic processor 300 at step 415. The request includes the organization determined in step 410 and, in some embodiments, the determined type of user. At step 420, the electronic processor 300 receives, from the database server 130, modifications for the product documentation that are associated with the determined organization and, in some embodiments, the determined type of user.
At step 425, the electronic processor 300 applies the modifications received from the database server 130 to the product documentation received from the database server 130 to create modified product documentation that is customized to members of an organization and, in some embodiments, types of users. At step 430, the electronic processor 300 sends, to the user device, the modified product documentation. The user device may display the modified product documentation via a display and, in some embodiments, display options for editing the product documentation.
In some embodiments, the electronic processor 300 receives, from a user device (for example, the user device 110), a modification to product documentation. For example, an administrator who is a member of an organization and has provided log-on credentials to the electronic processor 300 via the user device 110 may modify product documentation that has been distributed to the organization the administrator belongs to. In a manner similar to that described above, the electronic processor 300 determines an organization associated with the log-on credentials received from the user device 110. The electronic processor 300 sends to the database server 130 for storage, modifications made to product documentation and an indication of the determined organization. The electronic processor 200 stores the received modifications and stores the modifications in the database 212 along with an indication of the product documentation and organization associated with the modifications. In some embodiments, a user may only add content to product documentation or modify content that they previously added to the product documentation. In other embodiments, a user may also delete content included in the product documentation, modify content included in the product documentation, or both. In some embodiments, the electronic processor 300 also receives from the user device, an indication of a type of user. For example, a user editing product documentation may specify that a modification should be visible to one or more types of users. In these embodiments, the electronic processor 200 stores the received modifications in the database 212 with an indication of the type of user to whom the modification is visible along with an indication of the product documentation and organization associated with the modifications. In some embodiments, the electronic processor 300 receives, from a user device (for example, the user device 110), an indication of a user and a change to editing permissions associated with the user. For example, an administrator belonging to an organization may give a member of the organization the ability to edit the first product documentation 220.
In some embodiments, the database server 130 also stores, for each organization, metrics associated with product documentation distributed to the organization. The metrics may include, for example, how many times a section is viewed by users, how many times a term is searched by users, user reviews of product documentation, and the like. Upon receiving proper log-on credentials from a user device, the electronic processor 300 requests and receives, from the database server 130 metrics associated with an organization and the product documentation of one or more products that the organization has access to. The electronic processor 300 sends to the user device the metrics received from the database server 130. Based on the metrics an administrator of the organization may, for example, determine that members of the organization are in need of training, or product documentation is in need of modification.
It should be noted that, while described herein as being applied to software product documentation, the embodiments described herein may be applied to different types of documentation. For example, embodiments described herein may be applied to documentation for a physical product such as consumer products, commercial products, equipment, and the like.
Thus, embodiments described herein provide, among other things, a system and method for customizing product documentation without needing to duplicate the product documentation. Various features and advantages of some embodiments are set forth in the following claims.
